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Article: A Balance of Terror.(North Korean nuclear buildup is triggering dangerous counter-buildups in Asia)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- January 27, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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It is a scenario that some U.S. officials find too sensitive to discuss in detail: A defiant North Korea chooses to build and keep a nuclear arsenal, not bargain it away for rewards, as many suppose. Faced with a nuclear breakout by a hostile regime, Japan reconsiders its antinuclear taboos, fields a larger missile force of its own, and plunges into developing a shield against incoming missiles with the United States. South Korea, with one eye on the North and the other on Japan, follows suit. China reacts with more nukes and missiles of its own. Taiwan, outgunned, opts for more missiles and, perhaps, nuclear bombs. A nervous Russia shifts nuclear and conventional forces ...